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Descriptions

Many studies have looked at human settlements around individual volcanoes for
volcanic risk analyses, but few have done a comparative study to identify possible global
patterns. With the use of Landsat ETM+ data, this study identifies and compares urban
proximity to the Decade Volcanoes to identify volcanic settlement patterns. These
patterns are compared to the human development index values of the countries in which
the volcanoes are located to identify a correlation between them. Results reveal that in
countries with high human development, urban settlement areas increase with distance
from the volcano. Countries with lower human development tend to have settlements in
closer proximity to volcanoes, with the highest percentage located between 10km and
20km. In these areas, settlement decreases with increased distance from the volcano.
These findings will hopefully draw more attention to countries with lower human
development by revealing their increased vulnerability to volcanic hazards.